


Treat You Better

by justanoutlaw



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Episode: s06e18 Where Bluebirds Fly, F/F, Jealousy, Unrequited Love, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 07:31:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20524268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanoutlaw/pseuds/justanoutlaw
Summary: Is Zelena really the better choice? Or just a lesser of two evils? Will she ever know if she doesn't ask?





	Treat You Better

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by anonymous on CuriousCat: Wicked Beauty + "Treat you better"
> 
> I am not huge into this ship, but just a little something from Zelena's inner monologue in "Where Bluebirds Fly".

_I won't lie to you_ _  
I know he's just not right for you  
And you can tell me if I'm off  
But I see it on your face  
When you say that he's the one that you want  
And you're spending all your time  
In this wrong situation  
And anytime you want it to stop_ _-Shawn Mendes_

Zelena stands in the window of the shop, watching Rumple and Belle talk. Robin is wiggling in her arms, and she knows she should go inside soon before she starts fussing but she feels frozen in place.

After everything that happened, they’re standing mere feet apart, smiling, looking hopeful.

It’s as if weeks ago, he wasn’t making out with the evil half of her sister and shoving magic golden bracelets on her to make sure that she couldn’t leave a ship, designed to make her a prisoner. So, he wasn’t responsible for Gideon aging up, did that erase every other awful thing he had ever done?  


_Does it erase everything you have?_  
  


Zelena shook it off, just in time to watch Belle throw her arms around him. Rumple stood in the hug, but it would take an idiot to not be able to tell that he enjoyed it too. Zelena felt a tingling sensation going up her arm and looked down, green. She quickly pulled down her sleeve and adjusted the baby, pulling out her compact to make sure the envy wasn’t spreading.

Rumpelstiltskin pulled away from Belle and began moving towards the open curtain that separated the back of his shop, from the front. Zelena quickly ducked around the corner, quieting a fussy Robin.

“Shhh,” she soothed. “Shhh, we don’t want to have to deal with him today, now do we? Miss Belle might not read you any storybooks if we’re mean to her husband.”

That word felt like poison on her tongue.

Watching Gold’s Cadillac pull away, Zelena walked back over to the windows. Belle was looking out where Rumpelstiltskin once stood, a confused look on her face. So much had gone on between them in the little time Zelena had been apart of their lives (some of that was on her, the other part on his unwillingness to be honest and a good person). Belle deserved the world, someone who could treat her amazingly.

Zelena had to wonder though…was that really her?


End file.
